Issue 6 Monday 18th December 2017 www.anker-report.com

Contents European seats up 5.8% in 2017;

1 Europe’s top 40 (by seats) in 2017 revealed plus how quickly they & Moscow SVO add most are growing (or not). Plus the fastest Since this is the last issue of The ANKER Report in 2017, and ASK growth for the latter topping 32%, again, thanks to -growing airports by additional with just a couple of weeks of the year remaining, it seems a increasing its long-haul offering. seats. good time to analyse the year from a numbers perspective. airberlin’s collapse at the end of October, followed by its 2 and Portugal demand drive According to FlightGlobal schedules data for 2016 and 2017, Austrian subsidiary suspending service on 14 December, growth at UK airports in S17. Fastest this year has seen available seat capacity across Europe’s meant that the two carriers combined offered some 25% fewer -shrinking markets also revealed. airports increase by 5.8%, while aircraft movements have seats across the year as a whole. increased by just under 4%. It will be a while before airport 3 Focus on: Germany, Netherlands passenger figures for 2017 for all of Europe’s airports can be and SWISS register capacity cuts and Poland. analysed, but if we assume a small improvement in average Apart from airberlin, five other carriers among the top 40 have 4 Salzburg welcomes base load factor then it looks like traffic has grown by around 6%. recorded small capacity cuts of no more than 3%. They are as traffic up almost 10% in 2017. Considering that during 2017 three major airlines (airberlin, (combined with its subsidiary ), Air 5 Focus on: Baltics, Norway, and most recently NIKI), ceased trading, that’s Europa, Alitalia, SWISS and . According to and Ukraine. a pretty good performance. But then, fuel prices are still Group statistics for the first 11 months of 2017, the number of flights operated by SWISS is down 3%. However, 6 German domestic capacity down relatively low and the European economy is not doing too badly, encouraging both business and leisure travel. passenger numbers are up 5.4% to 17.5 million, with the just 6% in W17/18 as easyJet enters average load factor up 1.2 percentage points to 81.6%. Ryanair extends lead over nearest rivals market. Similarly, Q3 figures from Aegean Airlines show that the carrier 6 easyJet’s 19 Tegel routes analysed. Despite its high profile pilot scheduling issues, which resulted in transported 4% more passengers in the first nine months of capacity cuts in the last few months of 2017, Ryanair remains 7 The end of NIKI. Radical network 2017. However, this was achieved primarily thanks to a 6.3 Europe’s biggest and by some distance. In 2017 it shift revealed. percentage point improvement in load factor (to 82.9%), which offered over 135 million seats departing from European suggests that seat capacity may well be down in 2017 8 Latest European route launches and airports, an increase of 8.8% compared with 2016. Last year, its compared with 2016. announcements. nearest rivals were Lufthansa and , which both 10 Latest European airport traffic statistics for October/November. Welcome

Seasons greetings from The ANKER Report as this is the last issue of 2017. In this issue we have a number of stories looking at the ongoing develop- ments in the German and Austrian markets as the collapse of airberlin continues to have repercussions for other carriers. But we also look at passenger numbers by country market from the UK this summer, reveal the latest airport and airline trends in seven country mar- LOT and Jet2.com cope with rapid growth kets. Plus, the usual round up of new offered just over 83 million seats across Europe, just ahead of easyJet. However, easyJet has now overtaken both Star Alliance route launches and announcements, as Lower down the rankings two very different carriers stand out carriers and moved into a clear second place thanks to growth for their rapid expansion in 2017. Polish flag-carrier LOT with well as analysis of November traffic of almost 8% in 2017. Both Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines almost 35% capacity growth (and 40% ASK growth) and UK statistics for well over 200 European registered capacity growth of around 2% this year. leisure airline Jet2.com with 43% growth, both surged up the airports. See you in 2018! Two flag-carriers that barely registered any capacity growth airline rankings this year. LOT’s growth was focussed on its Ralph Anker were (fifth) and (sixth). In fact, both home hub of Warsaw WAW from where it has launched (or in airlines achieved their less than one percent capacity growth some cases re-launched) flights to nine destinations, including [email protected] despite operating fewer flights in 2017. SAS was another legacy Los Angeles and New York EWR. Jet2.com opened new bases at carrier that barely recorded any capacity growth in 2017. Birmingham (operating 15 routes) and STN (with 25 routes) earlier this year, to add to the seven bases it already ’s double-digit delight flew from across the UK. The largest airline to achieve double-digit capacity growth in Of the three US airlines that made the rankings, none grew 2017 was Aeroflot. The Russian flag-carrier increased its particularly quickly. As noted earlier, United Airlines capacity European set offering by over 12% while increasing flights by was down 1.6%, while (+1.0%) and American just under 9%. Ninth ranked Norwegian also managed capacity Airlines (+1.6%) registered only marginal growth on their growth of 12%. However, thanks to its focus on long-haul European routes. expansion its ASK growth was double that, at almost 25%. and Eurowings have both grown by over 20% in 2017, with continues on page 12

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Spain & Portugal drive UK international traffic growth of 8% in S17; Iran is fastest-growing market; Denmark, Norway and Turkey shrink

Analysis by The ANKER Report of UK CAA traffic data for the summer period April to September 2017 (October data is not yet available) shows that international passenger numbers from UK airports are up 7.7% to 140.2 million compared with 130.2 million in the same period of 2016. That equates to 10 million more passengers travelling abroad from the UK. Broken down by country market there are clear winners and losers. Spain twice as big as US market In terms of passenger volumes, Spain continues to dominate. Curiously, the CAA separates out traffic flown to the Canary Islands as a separate market, even though they are part of Spain. In total, flights to all Spanish airports generated around 29.5 million passengers this summer. Not only was this the biggest country market but it was also the second-fastest growing of the top 15 markets, beaten only by neighbours Portugal, who registered passenger growth of almost 19%. Social unrest and uncertainty have impacted demand in the previously fast-growing Turkish market (-1.3%), while Canada (-0.6%) was the only other top 15 country market to report a reduction in passengers compared with last summer. Among the top 15 country markets the only change in rankings was the swopping of places between the Canary Islands and the Netherlands. Just outside the top 15, Cyprus has passed Denmark into 16th place, while Romania has jumped three places from 21st to 18th. In pure volume terms the fastest-growing markets were Spain (including Canary Islands) with 2.9 million additional passengers, followed some way behind by Portugal (830,000 additional passengers), Italy (660,000), France (580,000), USA (530,000) and Greece (430,000). The biggest volume decrease was to Denmark (down 143,000). For more details on the evolution of the UK- Denmark market see the analysis of the London to Copenhagen market in Issue 3 of The ANKER Report. Middle East growth but not where you might think Looking at the fastest-growing country markets (with a minimum requirement of 50,000 passengers in the period April to September) in percentage terms, the top three are all in the Middle East. Iran comes top, followed by Oman and Kuwait. Iran’s impressive growth can be explained by British Airways resuming daily service to Tehran from London LHR on 1 September 2016. Oman’s growth is driven by British Airways starting non-stop service to Muscat from London LHR on 1 October 2016, while also started a daily service on 1 May 2017 from Muscat to Manchester. Several Central and Eastern European countries also reported impressive growth; led by Moldova (40%), Croatia (34%), Romania and Bulgaria (both 28%), Estonia (26%), Slovenia (25%) and Russia (24%). Another surprise is the sudden boom in traffic to Luxembourg. began service from Birmingham on 1 October 2016, having commenced flights from Manchester a month earlier. However, the biggest boost to traffic has been the daily service from London STN started on 30 October 2016 by Ryanair. Mixture of markets showing traffic declines The countries showing the steepest declines in traffic (in percentage terms) are a mixed bag. They include Caribbean markets (Trinidad & Tobago and Antigua & Barbuda), African markets (Algeria, Ghana and Nigeria), European markets (Denmark, Norway, Slovakia and Turkey), Asian markets (Bangladesh, Japan and Pakistan), plus long-haul markets such as Australia and Brazil. And Saudi Arabia. With so many Central European markets booming it is a surprise to see Slovakia traffic down 18%. However, Ryanair dropped its Bratislava service from London LTN at the end of S16, and has cut frequency on its service from London STN (although it has compensated slightly by starting a Leeds Bradford service last November). Wizz Air has also contributed to the decline by cutting frequencies on its flights to Kosice from Bristol and London LTN, while also reducing capacity on its Poprad- Tatry service from London LTN. These are the only two carriers connecting the UK and Slovakia at present.

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Germany: The uncertainty surrounding airberlin’s future LCCs grew strongly with Eurowings, Ryanair and Wizz Air such as easyJet, Ryanair, and . and then its collapse at the end of the month, clearly all registering capacity increases in excess of 20%. Poland: All the top seven airports registered double-digit had an impact on German traffic in October, notably at Netherlands: The Dutch market saw solid growth across growth in October, with three reporting demand TXL and Düsseldorf. However, all major airports and all the leading airlines. Unlike in increases of more than 20%. Ryanair, LOT and Wizz Air reported impressive growth of 20%, while none of the other country markets legacy carriers like Air France, account for the majority of traffic at the country’s other top 12 airports could manage double-digit growth. British Airways and KLM are growing just as fast as LCCs airports and all reported impressive capacity growth.

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Salzburg growth in 2017 driven by Eurowings; UK gets new ski routes One of Europe’s most picturesque airports is undoubtedly Salzburg in Austria. A gateway to many popular ski resorts in winter, the city itself is rich in culture and sights to see, especially for lovers of baroque architecture, Mozart and the classic movie The Sound Of Music. Air and car geeks will enjoy the curious Red Bull Hangar 7, located at the airport, which features a mix of racing cars, motor bikes, helicopters and aircraft. Traffic peaked in 2007 at almost 2 million Between 1996 and 2003 the airport saw little traffic development, with traffic up just 10%. However, there followed a period of dramatic growth as demand surged by 54% in just four years, to reach an all-time high of 1.95 million passengers in 2007. The global recession took its toll on the airport in the next two years as the passenger count fell by 20% to just 1.55 million. Since then, there has been a steady, though slightly erratic, recovery. In 2007 scheduled traffic was 1.2 million with charter airlines carrying 750,000 passengers. Last year, when the airport handled a total of 1.74 million passengers, the mix was 1.37 million on scheduled and 370,000 on charter flights, a trend seen at many airports across Europe as LCCs take over services from some charter carriers. Traffic up almost 9% in 2017 In the first 11 months of 2017 passenger numbers are up 8.9% to 1.74 million. In seven of the 11 months there has been double-digit growth, with April traffic up 29% thanks to the re-timing of Easter. As a result, the airport will get tantalisingly close to its previous record, but looks like falling just short. This will be helped by the launch of several new routes at the start of the winter season, though some of the routes will only have a minimal impact on 2017 figures as they start so late in December. However, Eurowings began flights to London LHR and London STN at the beginning of the W17/18 season, while Jet2.com also began London STN service on 30 November. Eurowings launched 2- weekly Manchester service on 4 December and 2-weekly service to Birmingham on 9 December. British Airways started a weekly Manchester service on 16 December, while Jet2.com is adding weekly flights from Belfast BFS and Birmingham on 23 December. Russian tourists will have the chance to try ’ weekly service from St. Petersburg which begins on 23 December, followed on 30 December by a new weekly service from Moscow DME with . Germany and UK top country markets Figures from the airport’s annual reports from 2015 and 2016, show that Germany and the UK are by far the biggest country markets for flights to and from Salzburg. In 2016, 42% of passengers were on flights to and from Germany with a further 20% on UK flights. The main markets to see a fall in passenger numbers, However, Lufthansa has set up a base in Salzburg using its Lufthansa’s hub in Frankfurt. which contributed to the loss of 90,000 passengers LCC Eurowings. During S17 the carrier served a mix of city- between 2015 and 2016, were Turkey (-47,000) and Among the LCCs serving the airport, easyJet operates break (Brussels, Paris, Thessaloniki) and summer-sun (-34,000), followed by Spain (-11,000) and Austria (-8,000). seven routes, four to the UK plus Amsterdam, Berlin SXF destinations (Dubrovnik, Olbia, Palma de Mallorca and The biggest increase came in the Dutch market, which saw and Hamburg, while Transavia operates from Amsterdam, Split) as well as routes to Germany (Cologne Bonn, an additional 15,300 passengers in 2016. Eindhoven and Rotterdam. Ryanair has a limited presence Düsseldorf and Hamburg). Four UK routes have been with year-round flights to London STN and seasonal Eurowings takes centre stage launched this winter as well as a weekly service to Bremen. (winter) service from Dublin. However, it has served This year has seen the demise of airberlin, Monarch Despite still being the airport’s busiest airline, Austrian Salzburg in the past from Bristol, Brussels CRL, East Airlines and NIKI, three carriers who all served Salzburg. Airlines only offers links to its own hub in Vienna and Midlands, Liverpool and Stockholm NYO.

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Baltics: Impressive, almost 20% growth across the Baltic Norwegian growing 1% and 5% respectively, giving an impressive improvement in average load factor or airports in November was driven more by legacy carriers average of around 3%. As in the Baltics, Wizz Air is maybe a significant contribution from charter airlines. (airBaltic and LOT) than by LCCs, though Ryanair and growing roughly twice as fast as Ryanair. Ukraine: Dominated by Ukraine International Airlines Wizz Air both registered double-digit growth. Turkey: Though the country’s airports reported which grew capacity by 4%, scheduled seat capacity Norway: Modest 3.3% growth across Norway’s airports passenger growth of 15%, none of the country’s leading overall was up over 7% as Wizz Air ramped up its can be explained easily by similarly sized SAS and airlines grew by more than 12%, indicating either an Ukraine operations with a doubling of capacity.

www.flightglobal.com/srsanalyser

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German domestic capacity currently down 6% in W17/18 despite 14% Lufthansa seat growth, Eurowings expansion and easyJet routes

The race to fill the capacity void left by the collapse of airberlin continues in Germany. easyJet finally revealed a list of 19 routes that it will start serving from Berlin TXL between 7 January and early March. This includes four domestic routes; Düsseldorf (13-weekly), Frankfurt (34- weekly), Munich (51-weekly) and Stuttgart (27-weekly). In the meantime, Lufthansa is adding capacity on core trunk routes, including allocating 747-400s and other widebody aircraft to domestic routes, to make up for the shortfall in domestic seat capacity. Domestic capacity currently down 6% in W17/18 Analysis of FlightGlobal schedules data shows that German domestic seat capacity in September was actually up 1.3%, although according to ADV, passenger numbers were down 1.4%. In October, airberlin’s last month of operation, capacity was down an estimated 0.5% while passenger numbers fell by 3.2%. This discrepancy may be related to passengers knowing about airberlin’s troubles and choosing not to fly with them in case services were suspended. With the addition of easyJet’s new domestic routes, the current situation for the W17/18 season (November to March) is that estimated capacity is down 15.3% in November and 10.2% in December. However, January capacity is now up 0.4% while February capacity is up 2.2%. March capacity is currently down 5.0%, though this may still change. In November, Lufthansa’s domestic capacity was up 13% Across the whole of the winter season German domestic Ryanair set to launch domestic routes from Tegel? while its LCC subsidiary Eurowings increased capacity by capacity is only scheduled to be down around 6% thanks Ryanair recently revealed plans to acquire slots to base 30% compared to November 2016. For December the to Lufthansa increasing capacity by 14% and Eurowings nine aircraft at Tegel, in addition to the nine it already corresponding figures are 16% and 37%. by 48%. Before easyJet’s announcement, all other bases at Schönefeld. It seems likely that these aircraft carriers (not including airberlin) were showing a capacity Eurowings starting new domestic routes in January could also be used on a number of domestic routes, reduction of 65%, mostly as a result of Ryanair’s though nothing has yet been announced. Eurowings is currently planning a 50% to 60% increase in suspended multiple-daily Cologne Bonn to Berlin SXF domestic capacity in the first quarter of 2018. This service, which is set to resume in S18. Looking at data for March 2018, easyJet will now have a includes the launching of new domestic routes on 15 6.3% share of German domestic seat capacity, compared This decrease would have been even higher were it not with Lufthansa’s 59.5% and Eurowings’ 33%. It will be January between Berlin TXL and Munich, Düsseldorf and for starting a 3-daily service from Berlin TXL to Munich, and Düsseldorf and Stuttgart. At the start of the interesting to see what shares the carriers (plus Ryanair) Saarbrücken on 1 January 2018 using CRJ 700s operated have by the end of S18. Ryanair’s returning Cologne S18 season it will also add flights from Berlin TXL to by . Frankfurt and from Hamburg to Munich. Bonn to Berlin SXF route will account for almost 2%. easyJet’s 19 Tegel routes revealed: what’s the competition? After much anticipation, easyJet has finally revealed on Saturday and eight on Sunday. seven of easyJet’s new Tegel routes. which destinations it plans to serve from Berlin TXL 17 of 19 routes served by airberlin a year ago Maybe curiously, the route with the most competition starting early in 2018. Between 7 January and early (in terms of carriers) is Fuerteventura in the Canary March a total of 19 routes will be introduced, including Of the 19 routes announced, 17 were operated by airberlin in March 2017 (though two were to different Islands which will be served next March by six other four domestic routes to Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich carriers in addition to easyJet. Another route with a high and Stuttgart. airports at the destination), the exceptions being Fuerteventura and Paphos, the only routes that are level of competition is Tel Aviv, which easyJet will now easyJet already serves seven routes from Munich and launching with less than daily frequency. be serving from both Berlin airports. Four other carriers five from Stuttgart, but these will be the LCC’s only offer a total of 23 weekly flights in March. Eight of easyJet’s new routes from Berlin TXL are already routes to Düsseldorf (which it has served in the past Return to Helsinki from Basel, London LGW and Rome FCO) and Frankfurt. served by the airline from Berlin SXF, although on the At present easyJet is only offering 2-daily flights on the Paris route different airports are served. Ryanair, which Another minor point of interest is that this will represent Düsseldorf route, whereas Eurowings is providing 14 has announced it also intends to operate from Berlin the return of easyJet to the Finnish capital. It last served daily flights Monday through Friday, with seven flights TXL, currently competes indirectly from Berlin SXF on Helsinki from Paris CDG in July 2011.

Destination Country easyJet easyJet Eurowings Ryanair Lufthansa Other competition airberlin (TXL) (TXL) (SXF) (TXL) (SXF) (TXL) in 3/17 Budapest Hungary 7 9 7 Wizz Air 7 (SXF) 19 Catania Italy 7 2 - 3 Copenhagen Denmark 14 13 Norwegian 13 (SXF), SAS 10 (TXL) 24 Düsseldorf Germany 13 85 - 49 Frankfurt Germany 34 119 - 34 Fuerteventura Spain 1 2 2 1 (SXF), 2 (SXF), Germania 2 (TXL), 3 NIKI 3 (TXL), TUI fly Deutschland 1 (TXL) Helsinki Finland 7 6 21 (TXL) 19 Spain 7 10 16 (TXL) Milan MXP Italy 7 14 14 (BGY) - 12 (LIN) Munich Germany 51 21 119 - 68 Palma de Mallorca Spain 14 7 8 7 NIKI 15 (TXL) 13 Paphos Cyprus 1 Germania 2 (SXF) Paris CDG France 14 17 (ORY) 14 4 (TXL-ORY), Air France 38 (TXL) 12 (ORY) Rome FCO Italy 13 14 (CIA) Alitalia 10 (TXL) 7 Stockholm ARN Sweden 14 Norwegian 6 (SXF), SAS 10 (TXL) 28 Stuttgart Germany 27 92 - 46 Tel Aviv Israel 7 5 Corendon 5 (TXL), 13 (SXF), Germania 3 (TXL), 7 Israir 2 (SXF) Vienna Austria 34 12 40 (TXL) 32 Zurich Switzerland 34 10 SWISS 57 (TXL) 37 Source: FlightGlobal schedules data for March 2018 (and March 2017 for airberlin data). Figures shown are weekly frequencies. The ANKER Report Issue 6: Monday 18 December 2017 6

NIKI’s strategic shift from Vienna to Palma de Mallorca fails to save it Created in November 2003 out of the ashes of Austria by Niki Lauda (who had previously created Lauda Air), NIKI ceased operations at the end of Wednesday 13 December after Lufthansa confirmed that it was no longer interested in acquiring the carrier due to likely resistance from the EU. For most of its existence, NIKI was focussed on the Austrian market, offering a mix of city-break and sunshine routes, mostly from Vienna. airberlin had taken a 24% stake in the airline in early 2004, which was increased to almost 50% in 2010, before taking full control in November 2011. Last December it was announced that airberlin would sell its stake in NIKI to for €300 million as part of a bigger plan to create a new leisure airline in partnership with TUI Group. Plans for this new entity were called off in June. Vienna routes still dominated in S16 Up until the summer of 2016, NIKI’s network was focussed on its Vienna hub, from where it was operating to over 50 destinations during the peak summer period. This included a mix of city destinations served with multiple daily flights (such as Barcelona, Milan LIN, Paris CDG, Rome FCO and Zurich) and traditional, Mediterra- nean leisure destinations such as Palma de Mallorca, the Canary Islands, various Greek islands, and popular destinations in Italy and Portugal. In terms of ASKs, 13 of NIKI’s top 15 routes in August 2016 were from Vienna, with the other two routes being from Graz and Salzburg to Palma de Mallorca. The airline’s top non-Spanish route was its daily service to Abu Dhabi, which it had launched in November 2014. However, for W16/17 NIKI cut capacity significantly from Vienna, including dropping routes to Milan LIN, Nice, Paris CDG, Rome FCO, Stockholm ARN and Zurich. airberlin, as part of its new strategy, took over many of these for the winter season. However, none of these routes survived into the summer season. NIKI took over airberlin’s leisure routes for S17 With airberlin deciding that its strategy for 2017 and beyond should be as an airline focusing on business routes from just two main hubs (Berlin TXL and Düsseldorf), its leisure routes were to be passed over to NIKI for S17. These would be flown by NIKI’s own fleet but also by aircraft wet-leased from TUIfly (now TUI fly Deutsch- land). With some swopping of fleet between airberlin and NIKI, NIKI was to be left operating just the larger A321s. As a result, during S17 only 45% of the capacity marketed as NIKI flights was actually flown by the carrier, with TUIfly accounting for a further 37%, Belair contributing 11% and airberlin aircraft accounting for the remaining 7%. NIKI’s top 15 routes in August 2017 were now dominated by airberlin’s former routes to Palma de Mallorca. Operating between 2-daily and 7-daily from 11 German airports, two Swiss airports and Vienna, Palma de Mallorca was now the airline’s busiest airport by far. The first non-Palma de Mallorca route ranked just 15th, a daily service between Düsseldorf and Malaga. In August 2017, NIKI operated 390 weekly flights from Palma de Mallorca, four times as many as from its next busiest airport (Düsseldorf with 96 weekly flights). Then came Berlin TXL (68 weekly departures), Zurich (55), Munich (53), Cologne Bonn and Hamburg (both with 49) and Vienna (48). Looking at FlightGlobal schedules data for November 2017, NIKI’s main focus was still on serving Palma de Mallorca. However, now it was only operating 93 weekly flights. Düsseldorf (37 weekly flights), Berlin TXL and Gran Canaria (both with 30) were the airline’s next busiest airports, with Vienna having 19 weekly flights. Palma de Mallorca takes biggest hit Analysing which airports in NIKI’s network have taken the biggest hit as a result of the airline’s collapse, reveals that NIKI accounted for almost 14% of seat capacity at Palma de Mallorca in November, with almost 440 departures generating almost 85,000 seats out of the airport’s total of 612,000. On a much smaller scale, NIKI also accounted for around 10% of capacity at Kos (in At several of the larger German airports (Berlin TXL, Fortunately, other airlines will no doubt be quick to Greece), Marsa Alam (in Egypt) and Paderborn Lippstadt Cologne Bonn, Düsseldorf and Nuremberg), NIKI’s share respond and provide additional capacity on the ‘winter (in Germany). of November seat capacity was between 3.5% and 4%. sun’ routes that NIKI was focussing on.

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Latest European route news Launched routes Frankfurt, London LGW and Paris CDG, with Zurich SAS now serves Tromsø from Copenhagen. On 16 flights beginning on 16 December. Kittila is a popular ski December the Star Alliance carrier began 2-weekly resumed service to Marrakech on 6 resort and in 2016 30% of the airport’s annual traffic (Wednesdays and Saturdays) service on the 1,600- December. Although the inaugural flight from Madrid came in December. Finnair also added a 2-weekly service kilometre route and faces no competition. It already was on a Wednesday, the normal schedule is for flights from Ivalo to London LGW on 14 December. Ivalo, also serves the northern Norwegian airport from its major on Thursdays and Sundays using the airline’s E190s. The located in northern Finland, also sees 30% of its annual hubs at Oslo OSL (53-weekly in January) and Stockholm SkyTeam carrier last connected the two airports in April traffic pass through the airport in December. ARN (4-weekly), as well as offering domestic service from 2011. The route is already quite well served with Iberia Alta (5-weekly), Bergen (2-weekly), Bodo (27-weekly) (9-weekly) and Ryanair (10-weekly) offering year-round Jet2.com has added a ski route to its London STN and Longyearbyen (4-weekly). As a result, SAS offers flights while Norwegian offers the service 3-weekly network. On 16 December the LCC began a weekly almost half the seat capacity available from Tromsø in during the winter season. With just 240 weekly one-way (Saturday) service to Grenoble using a 737-800. The winter, although Widerøe offers twice as many flights, seats, Air Europa’s share of capacity on the 1,050- service operates until 14 April 2018. Jet2.com started but using much smaller aircraft. kilometre route will be just under 6%. serving Grenoble from Leeds Bradford and Manchester in December 2012, followed by East Midlands, Glasgow has begun 2-weekly service (Mondays and has added another Italian destination to its and Newcastle in December 2016. A seventh route from Fridays) from to Rome FCO on 11 December. network with the addition of Comiso in Sicily on 17 Birmingham will begin on 23 December. The airline, which operates with the IATA code of U8, will December. Initially the route will be offered 2-weekly use a Fokker 100 on the route. No other carrier connects (Fridays and Sundays) with a Wednesday service being LOT Polish Airlines has resumed flying between Warsaw the two cities in winter, though Alitalia offered 3-weekly added in S18. The short, 130-kilometre sector from WAW and Berlin TXL. On 4 December the Star Alliance flights during S17. Malta will be flown using a mix of the airline’s A319s and carrier began 12-weekly service on the relatively short A320s, with a scheduled block time of just 40 minutes. 530-kilometre sector. Q400s will normally be used on , which recently unveiled a new corporate identity, The airline’s previous shortest sector was to Catania the route but the inaugural service (LO387) was flown has begun daily service from Moscow VKO to Milan which is 180 kilometres away. Air Malta also serves using an E170. LOT had previously served the route for MXP. The inaugural flight was on 7 December using one Milan LIN, Rome FCO and Palermo year-round. Last year many years before suspending flights in July 2013. of the airline’s 737-500s. While there is no direct Comiso, which only opened for commercial services in airberlin had begun competing on the route on 23 competition, Aeroflot flies 5-daily from Moscow SVO to 2013, handled 460,000 passengers. Ryanair is the March 2013 with up to 3-daily flights. The oneworld Milan MXP, Pobeda offers 9-weekly from Moscow VKO dominant carrier at the airport with year-round flights to carrier had continued to serve the route with up to four to Milan BGY and offers daily flights from six destinations (of which four are in Italy), as well as daily flights until its collapse in October. LOT already Milan MXP to Moscow DME. seasonal flights to Dublin, London STN and Weeze. serves Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart (resumed in June 2017) and has also served is now offering passengers wishing to visit began service to Geneva on 15 December. Hannover and Heringsdorf during the last decade. Barbados a further choice. In addition to the airline’s The 2-weekly service from Chisinau will be flown on Another new German route to Nuremberg is set to daily service from London LGW to Bridgetown, and a 2- Mondays (using an E190) and Fridays (using an A319). No launch next May. weekly service from Manchester, the airline began a 2- other carrier connects these two airports. This winter Air weekly service (Tuesdays and Saturdays) from London Moldova will be serving 26 destinations non-stop from LHR on 12 December. Virgin Atlantic briefly operated Chisinau, compared with 20 in W16/17. this 6,750-kilometre route on a daily basis between 11 December 2007 and 17 March 2008 using a 747-400, British Airways is now using its London LCY based according to FlightGlobal schedules data. This new fleet to start seasonal ski routes from service will be flown utilising the carrier’s A330-300s. Manchester. On 16 December the carrier began weekly flights to Chambery in France and Salzburg in Austria Wizz Air now serves Frankfurt from two of its bases. On using its E190s. The French airport is also served this 15 December the ULCC began daily flights from winter from Manchester by Flybe and TUI Airways while Budapest, having launched daily flights to Germany’s passengers wanting to visit the Austrian city also have busiest airport from Sofia on 22 May. Lufthansa already the choice of travelling with Eurowings, Jet2.com and connects the two airports with 5-daily flights. Maybe TUI Airways. surprisingly, Ryanair, which has bases at both airports, does not currently serve the market. The following day, easyJet has finally started its first service from Wizz Air launched another route, this time between Southampton. On 14 December the LCC began 3-weekly Luxair began 12-weekly service from Luxembourg to Gdansk and Tromsø. The 1,700-kilometre route will be flights to Geneva, which will operate until 22 March Milan LIN on 4 December using E175s operated by flown 2-weekly (Tuesdays and Saturdays) and faces no using its A320s. The route is already served by Flybe who Alitalia CityLiner. Luxair already serves Milan MXP with competition. A third weekly frequency will be added at also operate 3-weekly flights using Q400s. Another new 18-weekly flights, while easyJet (4-weekly to Milan MXP) the start of the S18 season. This is the airline’s first destination for easyJet this winter is Klagenfurt in and Ryanair (4-weekly to Milan BGY) provide passengers service to the northern Norwegian airport which Austria. Weekly service from London LGW began on 16 between the two cities with other options. Curiously, welcomed 2.1 million passengers in 2016, making it the December, the same day that the carrier also began a Luxair’s new service did not operate on either Thursday country’s fifth busiest airport. Tromsø is not currently weekly service from Copenhagen to Ostersund in 7 December or Friday 8 December. served by easyJet, Eurowings, Ryanair or Vueling. Sweden. This is easyJet’s second route to the Swedish airport having launched weekly service last winter from Routes that did not launch London LGW. Finally, Edinburgh is now connected to Sofia with 2-weekly flights, a route which also launched Powdair was supposed to start taking ski enthusiasts on 16 December. from various UK airports (and Antwerp) to Sion in Switzerland starting on 11 December. Unfortunately, just Ernest Airlines has launched four routes between Italy days before the first flight, the airline announced that it and the Ukraine in recent weeks. On 8 December the could not start operations as its main financial investor carrier began linking Naples (3-weekly) and Venice VCE had decided to withdraw. The airline still hopes to (2-weekly) to Lviv, while the following day, new routes launch flights in 2018. were launched from Milan BGY (3-weekly) and Naples (3 -weekly) to Kiev IEV. All routes will be served by the Announced routes airline’s A320s. The airline’s first route to Ukraine was launched on 20 October between Milan BGY and Lviv. Air Europa plans to resume service to Quito in Ecuador The Italy-Ukraine market is also served by Ukraine starting on 1 January. The SkyTeam carrier resumed International Airlines with four routes from Kiev KBP service to Guayaquil in Ecuador from Madrid in and two from Lviv, while Alitalia offers daily flights from December 2016 and is now adding an intermediate stop Rome FCO to Kiev IEV. S7 Airlines made Rome FCO its newest destination from in Quito to create a triangle routing of Madrid-Quito- Guayaquil-Madrid. Until June the service will operate 3- Eurowings enhanced its UK network from Salzburg with its main hub at Moscow DME with the introduction of daily flights on 15 December. The oneworld carrier will weekly, after which it becomes 5-weekly using the the addition of seasonal, 2-weekly services to airline’s A330-200s. According to FlightGlobal schedules Birmingham (from 9 December) and Manchester (from 4 serve the route daily using A320s, though frequency is data, between December 2004 and December 2005 Air December). This follows the launch of London STN reduced to 5-weekly from 17 January to 5 March. Europa operated the same triangular route using 767s. service on 29 October and London LHR flights on 1 Although S7 Airlines faces no direct competition on the route, Aeroflot (5-daily) and Alitalia (daily) both connect Iberia also serves Quito non-stop from Madrid with a November. In addition, the carrier also began weekly daily service, but stopped serving Guayaquil at the end flights from Düsseldorf to Puerto Plata in the Dominican Rome FCO with Moscow SVO. The airline’s most recent of March 2017. Republic on 14 December, a route previously flown by traffic statistics for October show that the S7 Group airberlin. (which includes S7 Airlines and Globus) carried 1.2 Air France is launching non-stop flights to Taiwan million passengers, up 7.8% compared with October starting next April. A 3-weekly service between Paris Finnair has begun weekly service from several European 2016. Domestic traffic is up 9.4% to almost 900,000 CDG and Taipei TPE is set to begin on 16 April using the airports to Kittila in northern Finland. On 12 December passengers, while international demand has grown by airline’s 777-200ERs. EVA Air already serves the route the oneworld carrier began weekly flights from 3.5% to just over 300,000 passengers. with daily flights. Fellow SkyTeam member KLM already The ANKER Report Issue 6: Monday 18 December 2017 8

serves Taipei TPE non-stop from Amsterdam. Other non- easyJet has announced the first 19 routes that it will route will be served by an 88-seat Embraer 175. KLM has stop flights to Taiwan from Europe include operate from its new Berlin TXL base starting in early served Stockholm ARN for many years and began a operating from Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Rome FCO and January. See page 6 for a detailed analysis of the airline’s second Swedish service to Gothenburg on 28 August this Vienna, Turkish Airlines flying daily from Istanbul IST plans and the competition it will face. It has also put on year. Växjö handled just 172,000 passengers in 2016, but and China Airlines’ recently launched 4-weekly service sale over 40 new routes, mostly involving either French is reporting growth of almost 40% in the first 11 months to London LGW. EVA Air also flies from Amsterdam, or UK airports, which will begin between the end of of 2017. London LHR and Vienna to Taiwan, but these services all March and the end of June. The airline’s new Bordeaux make a stop in Bangkok BKK. base gets seven new routes, Basel six, London LTN five, LOT Polish Airlines is adding more new routes in S18 London SEN, Lyon and Nice each welcome four new from its main Warsaw WAW base. Nuremberg will is adding new routes from its UK and Italian routes, while Belfast BFS and Liverpool will each become the Polish flag-carrier’s seventh route to bases. On 25 March the carrier is starting 3-weekly celebrate three new destinations. Germany when 12-weekly flights start on 7 May, while 6 service from Turin to Paris CDG. Air France already -weekly flights to Kaunas begin a fortnight later. The connects these two airports with 4-daily flights. This will Edelweiss Air, which is a fully-owned subsidiary of Lithuanian airport was served in S17 for a few weeks, bring to 19 the number of destinations served by Blue SWISS, is adding a number of new long-haul destinations but this was only as an alternative to Vilnius while that Air from Turin in S18, one fewer than in S17, having from Zurich in W18/19. This includes Buenos Aires (2- airport was closed for major works. LOT will dropped routes to Berlin TXL, Iasi, and Rome FCO, but weekly), Colombo in Sri Lanka (2-weekly), Ho Chi Minh operate the new Nuremberg service with its Embraer also started service to Stockholm ARN. Later in the City in Vietnam (2-weekly) and Mahé in the Seychelles 170s. summer, on 2 June, Blue Air will offer 2-weekly flights (weekly). All of these routes will be flown by the airline’s from Liverpool to Palma de Mallorca, where it will be three-class, 314-seat A340s. Service starts in November Scoot is set to make Berlin TXL its second European competing with easyJet (14-weekly) and Ryanair (7- 2018, except for Mahé, which launches on 22 destination after Athens. The Singapore-based carrier weekly). September. plans to introduce 4-weekly service using its 787-8s at the start of the W18/19 season. Scoot’s parent British Airways continues to find ways of starting new Flybe will be operating some ‘pop-up’ routes over the company, , already serves three other routes from London LHR. From 15 May it will offer 2- Christmas and New Year period. Eight routes that destinations in Germany; Düsseldorf (3-weekly), weekly service to Kefalonia in Greece, while Figari in normally only operate in summer will be flown between Frankfurt (14-weekly) and Munich (7-weekly) while Corsica will be served weekly from 27 May. Both routes mid-December and early January to coincide with school fellow Star Alliance member Lufthansa also offers daily are seasonal services that will cease before the end of holidays. Seven of the routes are to destinations in service from Frankfurt. the S18 season. Neither destination is served from the France; four from Southampton, two from Manchester airline’s London LGW base meaning that these are both and one from Birmingham. Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Another carrier starting flights at Berlin TXL is SkyWork new destinations for the UK flag-carrier. Neither route is Limoges, Nantes and Rennes are the airports on the Airlines. It will begin 6-weekly flights from Graz in flown by any other carrier. British Airways will serve other side of the Channel to benefit. Austria on 25 March using its Saab 2000s. The 640- eight destinations in Greece in S18 from London LHR, kilometre route was previously operated daily by the same as in S17, as it has apparently dropped service is expanding in Europe with the recent airberlin until the beginning of June. announcement of four new services from its Dubai DXB to Kos. As recently as S13 it only served one airport in Transavia France will add and Rabat to its Paris Greece, Athens. base. April will see the launch of new routes to Dubrovnik in Croatia (3-weekly) and Krakow in Poland ORY network in S18. Both routes will begin in mid-April Condor is adding over 40 new routes next summer from (daily), while June will be the launch month for new and will be served 3-weekly, though Alicante will various German airports to destinations in and around services to Catania in Italy (daily) and Kutaisi in Georgia increase to 4-weekly in July and August. On the Spanish the Mediterranean. In addition, some new long-haul (2-weekly). These will be the airline’s first routes to Italy route, competition comes from Vueling (19-weekly) and destinations for W18/19 have already been announced. and Poland and signals a return to the Croatian market Ryanair (3-weekly from Paris BVA), while on the From early October the carrier will serve Quito in after dropping services to Zagreb at the end of S16. Moroccan route Air France (18-weekly from Paris CDG), Ecuador 2-weekly from Frankfurt via Santo Domingo, Kutaisi becomes flydubai’s third destination in Georgia (14-weekly from Paris ORY), TUI fly with 3-weekly service to Kuala Lumpur, also from after Tbilisi (served since November 2011) and Batumi Belgium (5-weekly from Paris ORY) and Ryanair (3- Frankfurt, beginning in early November. Regarding the (launched in June 2017). weekly from Paris BVA) all offer an alternative. Air Malaysian route, Lufthansa connected the two airports France’s in-house LCC is also launching new routes from with non-stop flights between April 2014 and Feb 2016 KLM will start a daily service from Amsterdam to Växjö Nantes to Casablanca (2-weekly from 9 June) and Rome in southern Sweden from 14 May 2018. Known as the FCO (2-weekly from 19 April on Thursdays and Sundays). (having served KL via Bangkok BKK up until then), while th served the route until May 2015 with, hometown of IKEA, Växjö will become the 89 European However, the Italian route does not operate between 1 typically, five weekly flights. destination to be served non-stop by the airline. The July and 6 September.

www.connect-aviation.com

The ANKER Report Issue 6: Monday 18 December 2017 9

Latest European airport traffic statistics Data published here has been made public between 4 December and 15 December. Country Sources: Individual airports, airport authorities, government statistics and ACI Europe. (YTD: Year to date)

Albania October: Tirana pax +7.8% to 216k. YTD: pax +22.7% to 2.22m.

October: All airports pax +1.5% to 2.48m; Salzburg pax +11.7% to 118k; Graz pax -7.8% to 83,809; Linz pax -0.5% to 34,083, Klagenfurt pax +53.7% to 21,814. YTD (Oct): All airports pax +5.2% to 24.85m; Graz pax -2.7% to 822k; Linz pax -9.4% to 350k; Klagenfurt pax +12.9% to 188k. Austria November: Vienna pax -0.1% to 1.77m, O&D pax +0.8%, transfer pax -2.6%, flights -0.3%; Salzburg pax -2.7% to 82,611; Innsbruck pax +23.1% to 36,424. YTD (Nov): Vienna pax +4.7% to 22.64m, O&D pax +4.8%, transfer pax +4.4%, flights -0.6%; Salzburg pax +8.9% to 1.74m; Innsbruck pax 11.0% to 1.00m.

October: All airports pax +7.9% to 2.99m; Liege pax -14.4% to 9,659. YTD (Oct): All airports pax +11.5% to 28.55m; Liege pax -52.2% to 174k. November: Brussels BRU pax +5.1% to 1.83m, passenger flights +0.2% to 18,387; Brussels CRL pax +3.8% to 552k; Ostend pax -4.4% to 17,880; Antwerp pax Belgium +0.7% to 17,350. YTD (Nov): Brussels BRU pax +14.6% to 23.07m, passenger flights +7.3% to 221k; Brussels CRL pax +5.7% to 7.15m; Ostend pax -13.8% to 334k; Antwerp pax down 2.1% to 255k.

November: All airports pax +14.8% to 534k; Sofia pax +6.7% to 460k; Varna pax +89.7% to 63,127; Bourgas pax 10,093. Bulgaria YTD (Nov): All airports pax +20.3% to 10.88m; Sofia pax +33.1% to 6.00m; Bourgas pax +3.3% to 2.97m; Varna pax +15.2% to 1.90m.

November: Top 5 airports pax +15.1% to 304k; Zagreb pax +12.5% to 223k; Split pax +20.5% to 39,552; Dubrovnik pax +40.4% to 34,090. Croatia YTD (Nov): Top 5 airports pax +18.3% to 9.18m; Zagreb pax +11.9% to 2.89m; Split pax +23.1% to 2.78m; Dubrovnik pax +16.5% to 2.30m; Zadar pax +13.3% to 588k; Pula pax +37.2% to 585k.

October: All airports pax +12.8% to 1.14m; Larnaca pax +15.4% to 852k; Paphos pax +5.4% to 286k. Cyprus YTD (Oct): All airports pax +14.7% to 9.36m; Larnaca pax +17.4% to 7.08m; Paphos pax +7.2% to 2.28m.

October: All airports pax +14.5% to 1.41m; Brno pax +1.5% to 26,924; Ostrava pax +13.1% to 16,771. Czech Republic YTD (Oct): All airports pax +18.8% to 13.89m; Brno pax +14.3% to 441k; Ostrava pax +29.2% to 298k.

November: All airports pax -1.6% to 2.47m; Billund pax +14.5% to 217k; Aalborg pax +4.2% to 119k. November: Copenhagen pax -3.4% to 2.10m; O&D -0.3%, transfer -15.5%, domestic -5.8%, Europe -3.8%, intercontinental +0.4%. London -11%, Stockholm -5%, Oslo +0%. Flights -2.7% to 20.489. Denmark YTD (Nov): All airports pax +1.5% to 32.14m; Billund pax +8.9% to 3.18m; Aalborg pax -0.3% to 1.41m. YTD (Nov): Copenhagen pax +0.9% to 27.20m; O&D +3.3%, transfer -8.0%, domestic -5.6%, Europe +0.7%, intercontinental +6.2%. London -7%, Oslo +3%, Stockholm -4%. Flights -2.1% to 241k.

Estonia November: Tallinn pax +26.8% to 203k. YTD: pax +19.3% to 2.46m.

Faroe Islands November: Vagar pax +14.3% to 20,390. YTD: pax +16.8% to 321k.

November: All airports pax +12.5% to 1.82m, domestic pax +6.8% to 534k, international pax +15.1% to 1.29m. Helsinki +12.9% to 1.49m. Finland YTD (Nov): All airports pax +9.0% to 20.66m, domestic pax +1.6% to 4.94m, international pax +11.6% to 15.72m. Helsinki +9.9% to 17.38m. YTD (Nov): Top 5 country markets for international traffic; Germany +8.1%, Sweden +5.4%, Spain +13.6%, UK +7.7% and Denmark +12.2%.

October: Nice pax +10.5% to 1.23m; Lyon pax +5.7% to 923k. YTD (Oct): Nice pax +6.8% to 11.69m; Lyon pax +7.7% to 8.78m. November: Paris CDG pax +6.6% to 5.15m; Paris ORY pax +2.2% to 2.31m; Toulouse pax +9.0% to 725k; Bordeaux pax +3.2% to 404k; Nantes pax +24.0% to France 359k; Paris BVA pax -4.9% to 263k; Montpellier pax +13.7% to 134k; Biarritz pax -1.7% to 70,638; Bastia pax +9.8% to 62,891; Pau pax -0.9% to 51,565. YTD (Nov): Paris CDG pax +5.5% to 64.05m; Paris ORY pax +2.9% to 29.59m; Toulouse pax +15.5% to 8.53m; Bordeaux pax +8.2% to 5.77m; Nantes pax +14.9% to 5.11m; Paris BVA pax -9.0% to 3.39m; Montpellier pax +11.0% to 1.70m; Bastia pax +9.0% to 1.33m; Biarritz pax +5.3% to 1.12m; Pau pax -1.3% to 547k.

November: Tbilisi pax +38.6% to 219k; Batumi pax +69.4% to 18,553. Georgia YTD (Nov): Tbilisi pax +40.9% to 2.94m; Batumi pax +59.1% to 485k.

November: Frankfurt pax +21.1% to 5.01m; Munich pax +8.2% to 3.33m; Cologne Bonn pax +5.3% to 868k; Hannover pax +13.6% to 399k, Nuremberg pax +8.6% to 296k; Rostock pax +35.2% to 14,455. Germany YTD (Nov): Frankfurt pax +6.0% to 59.93m; Munich pax +5.8% to 41.47m; Cologne Bonn pax +4.1% to 11.56m; Hannover pax +8.6% to 5.53m; Nuremberg pax +20.9% to 3.91m; Rostock pax +16.3% to 282k.

Gibraltar November pax -33.2% to 26,190. YTD: pax +7.5% to 546k.

October: All airports pax +15.1% to 5.33m. YTD: All airports pax +8.5% to 53.54m. November: Athens pax +8.7% to 1.45m, international +14.6%, domestic -1.4%; Thessaloniki pax +0.6% to 378k; Rhodes pax +15.9% to 75,381; Chania pax Greece down 33.4% to 51,548; Santorini pax +28.8% to 48,953. YTD (Nov): Athens pax +8.8% to 20.31m, international +12.0%, domestic +3.1%; Thessaloniki pax +12.0% to 5.97m; Rhodes pax +6.6% to 5.24m; Chania pax +3.7% to 3.00m.

Hungary November: Budapest pax +16.9% to 1.02m. YTD: Budapest pax +14.6% to 12.09m.

Iceland November: Reykjavik KEF pax +19.9% to 595k. YTD: pax +29.2% to 8.15m.

November: Dublin pax +6.5% to 2.13m; Cork pax +3.6% to 152k; Knock pax +7.4% to 48,831. Ireland YTD (Nov): Dublin pax +6.0% to 27.47m; Cork pax +3.5% to 2.16m; Knock pax +2.0% to 701k.

Kosovo October: Pristina pax +1.7% to 150k. YTD: pax +7.1% to 1.62m.

Latvia November: Riga pax +19.7% to 462k. YTD: pax +12.4% to 5.62m.

November: All airports pax +16.2% to 415k; Vilnius pax +18.0% to 332k; Kaunas pax +16.0% to 65,516; Palanga pax -9.1% to 17,172. Lithuania YTD (Nov): All airports pax +9.2% to 4.84m; Vilnius pax -2.7% to 3.44m; Kaunas pax +64.3% to 1.12m; Palanga pax +30.5% to 279k.

Luxembourg October: Luxembourg pax +18.0% to 330k. YTD: pax +19.1% to 3.03m.

October: Skopje pax +20.8% to 173k; Ohrid pax +30.9% to 11,484. Macedonia YTD (Oct); Skopje pax +12.5% to 1.59m; Ohrid pax 148k.

Malta November: Malta pax +15.8% to 406k. YTD: pax +17.7% to 5.64m.

Moldova October: Chisinau pax +13.8% to 217k. YTD: pax +25.6% to 2.38m.

October: Podgorica pax +17.3% to 86,388; Tivat pax +11.9% to 54,858. Montenegro YTD (Oct): Tivat pax +14.9% to 1.09m; Podgorica pax +20.0% to 920k. The ANKER Report Issue 6: Monday 18 December 2017 10

Latest European airport traffic statistics (continued) Data published here has been made public between 4 December and 15 December. Country Sources: Individual airports, airport authorities, government statistics and ACI Europe. (YTD: Year to date)

November: Amsterdam pax +10.1% to 5.18m, O&D pax +11.7%, transfer pax +7.7%, Europe pax +10.8%, intercontinental pax +8.6%, flights +4.5%. November: Eindhoven pax +10.3% to 399k; Groningen pax +20.9% to 12,056. Netherlands YTD (Nov): Amsterdam pax +7.9% to 63.53m; O&D pax +9.2%, transfer pax +5.7%, Europe pax +8.1%, intercontinental pax +7.4%, flights +4.0%. YTD (Nov): Eindhoven pax +20.2% to 5.28m; Groningen pax +26.6% to 215k.

November: All airports pax +3.3% to 4.39m, domestic pax +3.7% to 2.69m, international pax +3.0% to 1.60m. YTD (Nov): All airports pax +2.4% to 51.76m, domestic pax +2.8% to 28.90m, international pax +2.1% to 21.74m. November (Top 6 airports): Oslo OSL pax +3.9% to 2.12m; Bergen pax +3.8% to 475k; Trondheim pax +0.6% to 376k; Stavanger pax +1.9% to 347k, Tromso pax Norway +7.3% to 188k; Oslo TRF pax +12.9% to 149k. YTD (Nov, Top 6 airports): Oslo OSL pax +6.9% to 25.57m; Bergen pax +2.7% to 5.70m; Trondheim pax +0.3% to 4.13m; Stavanger pax -0.4% to 3.88m; Tromso pax +7.8% to 2.09m; Oslo TRF pax +37.4% to 1.82m.

November: Warsaw WAW pax +12.8% to 1.15m; Warsaw WMI pax +10.9% to 230k; Katowice pax +17.4% to 221k; Wroclaw pax +7.6% to 202k; Poznan pax +37.8% to 137k; Rzeszow pax +11.8% to 49,050; Lublin pax +46.8% to 35,278; Bydgoszcz pax +37.8% to 25,271; Lodz pax -21.2% to 14.856. Poland YTD (Nov): Warsaw WAW pax +23.4% to 14.63m; Katowice pax +20.9% to 3.67m; Warsaw WMI pax +2.7% to 2.70m; Wroclaw pax +18.9% to 2.65m; Poznan pax +6.6% to 1.72m; Rzeszow pax +4.3% to 642k; Lublin pax +12.3% to 394k; Bydgoszcz pax -3.1% to 306k; Lodz pax -13.1% to 192k.

October: Top 5 airports pax +12.6% to 4.79m; Lisbon pax +15.0% to 2.46m; Porto pax +11.4% to 966k; Faro pax +8.5% to 921k; Funchal pax +3.8% to 276k; Ponta Delgada pax +24.3% to 159k. Portugal YTD (Oct): Top 5 airports pax +17.2% to 44.41m; Lisbon pax +19.2% to 22.62m; Porto pax +15.9% to 9.19m; Faro pax +15.4% to 8.20m; Funchal pax +8.1% to 2.77m; Ponta Delgada pax +24.4% to 1.64m.

October: All airports pax +20.0% to 1.76m; Bucharest pax +16.7% to 1.16m; Cluj-Napoca pax +40.1% to 250k; Timisoara pax +14.1% to 141k; Iasi pax +14.8% to 107k; Sibiu pax +13.3% to 46,550; Bacau pax +6.5% to 38.027. Romania YTD (Oct): All airports pax +26.8% to 16.63m; Bucharest pax +18.5% to 10.91m; Cluj-Napoca pax +51.3% to 2.33m; Timisoara pax +48.8% to 1.37m; Iasi pax +35.5% to 977k; Sibiu pax +40.0% to 447k; Bacau pax +2.8% to 369k.

October: Moscow SVO pax +17.7% to 3.57m; Moscow DME pax +6.7% to 2.53m; Ekaterinburg pax +23.6% to 469k; Sochi/Adler pax +19.6% to 428k; Novosi- birsk pax +18.2% to 425k; Rostov-on-Don pax +29.5% to 243k; Samara pax +22.5% to 231k; Mineralnye Vody pax +21.3% to 191k; Chelyabinsk pax +22.7% to 125k; Volgograd pax +17.8% to 90,939k. Russia November: St. Petersburg pax +14.4% to 1.09m. YTD (Oct): Moscow SVO pax +18.3% to 33.83m; Moscow DME pax +8.1% to 26.57m; Sochi/Adler pax +6.2% to 5.09m; Ekaterinburg pax +26.3% to 4.59m; Novosibirsk pax +20.8% to 4.18m; Rostov-on-Don pax +31.9% to 2.26m; Chelyabinsk pax +25.7% to 1.29m; Volgograd pax +26.7% to 856k. YTD (Nov): St. Petersburg pax +22.5% to 15.04m.

November: Bratislava pax +19.0% to 118k; Kosice pax +6.8% to 30,868. Slovakia YTD (Nov): Bratislava pax +10.1% to 1.82m; Kosice pax +14.3% to 463k.

Slovenia November: Ljubljana pax +22.6% to 122k. YTD: pax +20.1% to 1.57m.

November: All airports pax +9.3% to 16.58m, flights +10.0% to 158k. November (Top 5 airports): Madrid pax +6.2% to 4.19m; Barcelona pax +5.0% to 3.20m; Gran Canaria pax +11.2% to 1.20m; Malaga pax +10.3% to 1.07m; Tenerife TFS pax +4.8% to 974k. Other notable (>20%): El Hierro +39.7%, Santander +39.0%, Seville +29.2%, Valencia +25.7%, Tenerife TFN +23.4%, Granada +21.2%. Spain YTD (Nov): All airports pax +8.2% to 232.86m, flights +6.2% to 2.02m. YTD (Nov, Top 5 airports): Madrid pax +6.0% to 49.14m; Barcelona pax +7.1% to 44.09m; Palma de Mallorca pax +6.4% to 27.16; Malaga pax +11.9% to 17.63m; Alicante pax +11.4% to 12.97m. Other notable (>15%): Reus +25.2%, El Hierro +24.6%, Santander +19.4%, Granada +18.3%, Girona +17.1%, La Palma +16.9% and Valencia +16.0%.

November: All airports pax +3.9% to 3.64m. Stockholm ARN pax +3.6% to 2.05m; Gothenburg pax +2.2% to 502k; Stockholm BMA pax +2.9% to 237k; Malmö pax +1.8% to 187k; Stockholm NYO pax +12.3% to 143k. Sweden YTD (Nov): All airports pax +6.6% to 43.02m. Stockholm ARN pax +8.4% to 24.71m; Gothenburg pax +6.3% to 6.29m; Stockholm BMA pax +1.4% to 2.34m; Malmö pax -1.3% to 2.02m; Stockholm NYO pax +4.6% to 1.99m.

November: Zurich pax +3.4% to 2.09m; Geneva pax +4.1% to 1.07m. Switzerland YTD (Nov): Zurich pax +6.5% to 27.22m; Geneva pax +5.2% to 15.98m.

November: All airports (DHMI) pax +15.3% to 14.32m; Istanbul IST pax +16.5% to 5.16m; Istanbul SAW pax +10.7% to 2.54m; Ankara pax +32.2% to 1.47m; Izmir pax +11.4% to 1.03m; Antalya pax +11.1% to 965k; Adana pax +5.1% to 473k; Trabzon pax +4.9% to 311k; Gaziantep pax +23.3% to 234k; Diyarbakir pax +9.3% to 172k; Kayseri +11.5% to 160k. Turkey YTD (Nov): All airports (DHMI) pax +10.7% to 178.84m; Istanbul IST pax +5.3% to 58.59m; Istanbul SAW pax +5.2% to 28.80m; Antalya pax +39.4% to 25.18m; Ankara pax +19.8% to 14.33m; Izmir pax +7.0% to 11.81m; Adana pax -0.2% to 5.14m; Trabzon pax +11.1% to 3.83m; Dalaman pax +20.1% to 3.65m; Bodrum pax +8.4% to 3.41m.

October: Kiev KBP pax +19.0% to 949k; Kharkiv pax +22.7% to 67,577. YTD (Oct): Kiev KBP pax +24.1% to 9.02m; Kharkiv pax +37.6% to 684k. Ukraine November: Dnepropetrovsk pax -0.8% to 18,632. YTD (Nov): Dnepropetrovsk pax -3.5% to 257k.

November: London LHR pax +3.5% to 5.92m (Europe +1.9%, N America +1.2%, Asia/Pacific +8.0%, Mid East +5.9%, domestic +4.6%), flights +1.8%. November: London LGW pax +2.1% to 2.89m (Europe scheduled +1.5, domestic -6.4%, N Atlantic +23.6%, other long-haul +5.1%, Ireland -1.9%), flights -0.8%. ExchangeNovember: rates? Manchester pax +1.6% to 1.73m; London STN pax +4.6% to 1.82m; London LTN pax +4.6% to 1.01m; Edinburgh pax +8.7% to 936k; Glasgow pax UK +2.5% to 683k. YTD (Nov): London LHR pax +3.1% to 71.65m (Europe +2.4%, N America +1.1%, Asia/Pacific +4.4%, Mid East +10.2%, domestic +3.0%), flights +0.0%. YTD (Nov): London LGW pax +5.9% to 42.39m; Manchester pax +9.1% to 25.98m; London STN pax +7.2% to 24.07m; London LTN pax +9.9% to 14.89m; Edinburgh pax +8.7% to 12.49m; Glasgow pax +6.2% to 9.28m.

November traffic data obtained for over 220 airports Riga in Latvia (+19.7%) and Bratislava in Slovakia Looking at countries with more than one significant across Europe reveals that the fastest-growing airports (+19.0%) also impressed. Malta and Budapest both airport, Lithuania (+16.2%), Turkey (+15.3%), Croatia serving capital cities are to be found in Georgia (Tbilisi reported demand growth of 16.9%. Both of these (+15.1%), Bulgaria (+14.8%) and Finland (+12.5%) all traffic is up 39%), Turkey (Ankara traffic is up 32%) and airports have, impressively, achieved double-digit recorded more than 10% growth, the huge Spanish Estonia (Tallinn traffic is up 27%). Ljubljana in Slovenia growth in every month of 2017. market grew by 9.3%, while at the other end of the (+23%) and Sarajevo in Bosnia & Herzegovina (+22%) are Among major hub airports, Frankfurt’s 21% growth beats rankings were Sweden (+3.9%), Norway (+3.3%) and the other capital airports to grow by more than 20%. Istanbul IST (+17%) and Amsterdam (+10%). Paris CDG Denmark (-1.6%). Monarch’s collapse has, as predicted Reykjavik KEF in Iceland reported a 19.8% jump in managed 6.6% growth while constrained London LHR in Issue 1 of The ANKER Report, hit hard. Traffic November traffic versus the same month in 2016, while managed just 3.5% growth. was down 22.3% in October and 33.4% in November.

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Ryanair (surprise!) adds most seats Analysis of those airlines which have increased their seat capacity by the most number of additional seats, reveals that Ryanair (not surprisingly) leads the way, with almost 11 million more seats flown from European airport this year than in 2016, despite the winter route suspensions forced upon it. Five of the next six carriers for seat growth are LCCs; easyJet, Eurowings, Jet2.com, Norwegian and Wizz Air, with Aeroflot the notable exception. The Russian carrier has added almost six million seats in 2017, representing growth of almost 13%. Four Star Alliance legacy carriers appear in the top 15 (Austrian Airlines, LOT, Lufthansa and TAP Portugal) while Aeroflot is joined by fellow SkyTeam member KLM to give that alliance two carriers in the top 15. No oneworld carrier makes the top 15 for seat growth, with coming closest in 18th place. Eight of the nine remaining airlines are LCCs with Romania’s Blue Air having the highest percentage growth (almost 57%) among the top 15. The other carrier is Kiev-based Ukraine International Airlines which has been driving growth in the Ukraine market. WOW tops growth rate rankings Considering only airlines that offered at least two million seats from European airports in 2017 (of which there are 86), the carrier with the fastest growth in percentage terms is Iceland’s WOW air. The airline, which only launched in May 2012, added six new routes to its network in 2017, three in the US and three in Europe. However, it also increased frequencies on many routes resulting in capacity growth this year of just over 70%. Romania’s Blue Air is runner-up with an increase in seat capacity of almost 57%, helped not only by rapid expansion in its home market, but also its growth from its bases in Cyprus (Larnaca), Italy (Turin) and the UK (Liverpool). Apart from Blue Air, a number of other carriers from Central and Eastern Europe make the growth rate rankings; airBaltic (Latvia), LOT (Poland), (Czech Republic), Ukraine International Airlines (Ukraine), Ural Airlines (Russia) and Wizz Air. Two airlines in the top 15 are not even based in Europe. Morocco’s Maroc (see Issue 1 of The ANKER Report) has increased flights to Europe by over 40%, while Saudi Arabian Airlines has grown European capacity by almost 17%, with much of the growth on Turkish routes. Third-ranked Germania has been growing its scheduled network, mostly from Germany’s smaller, regional airports. However, airberlin’s recent collapse has also encouraged the leisure airline to develop its network from both airports serving the nation’s capital. Germania’s major challenge is still seasonality, as it focuses heavily on serving summer sun destinations in and around the Mediterranean. Apart from WOW air, the other relatively new airlines to make the growth rankings is . Also launched in 2012, the airline has several bases spread across France, Italy and Spain, with Athens becoming the airline’s newest base next summer. Moscow SVO beats Amsterdam for airport seat increase In terms of overall passenger numbers, Europe’s busiest airports in 2017 continue to be London LHR, Paris CDG, Amsterdam, Frankfurt FRA and Istanbul IST. Of these, the Dutch airport has shown the biggest growth in the first 10 months of 2017, with passenger numbers up 7.7%. However, based on analysis of seat capacity for all of 2017, Amsterdam only ranks second among Europe’s airports for the most additional seats, with an increase of 2.3 million departing seats. Thanks to Aeroflot’s impressive expansion, the airport welcoming the most additional seats in 2017 is Moscow SVO. The Russian airport, which currently ranks 11th in Europe with 33.8 million passengers in the period January to October, is set to offer over 2.7 million more seats on scheduled flights in 2017 than it did in 2016. The top seven airports are all in different countries, with representatives from the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey, which is a pretty good geographic spread right across Europe. A total of 18 European airports spread across 13 countries are expected to offer over one million more departing seats this year compared with last year. Of these, three are in Russia (Moscow VKO ranks 17th) and three are in Spain At the other end of the rankings four airports have seen a government statistics), Berlin TXL is down 670,000 seats (Barcelona, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca). Germany reduction of at least half a million scheduled seats in 2017 (passenger number through October are down just 0.3%), (Frankfurt) and the UK (Manchester) only have one airport versus 2016. Rome FCO is down 570,000 seats, Istanbul IST but the biggest loss is at Oslo RYG, which offered almost achieving this mark, while France has none (Paris CDG is down 620,000 seats (although passenger numbers in the 790,000 departing seats in 2016 but no longer welcomes ranked 22nd for seat growth). first 11 months of this year are up 5% according to any commercial services.

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